


The Boy From Yavin 4

by sweetsuesparrow



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Teen Romance, the boys are awkward teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 09:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25348636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetsuesparrow/pseuds/sweetsuesparrow
Summary: Rae Sloane agrees to bring Armitage along on an errand - his first time planetside in twelve years.  While waiting for the grand admiral to finish her meeting, Armitage meets Poe Dameron - a boy unlike anyone he's ever met before.  More firsts follow soon after.For Gingerpilot Week 2020 Day 7 - First Time
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Armitage Hux, Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux
Comments: 6
Kudos: 62
Collections: Gingerpilot Week 2020





	The Boy From Yavin 4

**Author's Note:**

> Accompanying art here: https://queenphasma.tumblr.com/post/623944202982752256/an-illustration-to-accompany-my-little-fic-for-day

Armitage had never seen so many civilians in his life. They were all different species, dressed in more colors than he knew the galaxy had. He couldn’t help but stare at everything, craning his neck to take in every detail, even as he tried to keep up with Grand Admiral Sloane ( _ just Sloane,  _ she had told him -  _ when we’re outside of the unknown Regions, just call me Sloane _ ). She said this planet was just some filthy Outer Rim outpost - could hardly even be counted as civilized - but to him, it was almost magical. 

When she had agreed to bring him song on an errand, he had assumed it would be to another First Order ship. When he learned they would be going to a real planet - into New Republic Space no matter how remote - it took all his self control to repress the entirely unprofessional grin that fought to spread across his face. She said this wasn’t a leisure trip - the First Order didn’t believe in shore leave - but the glimmer in her eye let him know it was alright to be excited.

“Now Armitage,” Sloane said they rounded a corner down a dark alley, her dark cloak swishing about her ankles, “I’ll be meeting with our contact alone. These spies spook easily. Wait outside, keep your blaster ready, don’t talk to anyone. I’ll be two hours. Any more than that and you come in after me, understand?”

“Yes gr- yes Sloane.” He said with a stiff nod.

“Good lad,” she gave his shoulder a firm squeeze as they came to a stop in front of a cantina with a neon sign and tinted windows. “You have your comm, don’t you?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. If anything happens you call me. And don’t talk to anyone. If anyone talks to you, be polite, don’t make a scene but don’t give anything away. You tell them you’re just a cadet on shore leave. You don’t know anything, you came here alone to have a good time. This might be a backsystem outpost but it’s still enemy territory.”

If anyone else had taken such pains to caution him, Armitage might have become indignant - might have snapped  _ I’m seventeen, I’m top of my class, I can handle myself! _ But this was Rae Sloane, and he knew she meant well.

“Yes sir, Sloane.”

“Excellent,” she said, the twinkle back in her eye, “two hours.”

“Two hours.” He repeated.

And then he was alone, loitering outside the cantina, hoping no one looked too closely at his cadet’s uniform. Moments ago, he had been ecstatic at the prospect of leaving the Unknown Regions for the first time since he was small, but now that he was really here - and alone - he felt uneasiness edging into his stomach where the excitement had been. There were so many people - so many alien species he’d never seen before - so much sound and smell it was almost too much. Even the air was too thick with particles of dust and soot - clogging his lungs and making his nose and eyes itch. He made himself small, folding his shoulders in and hanging his head the way he did when his father was in one of his moods. It was so loud, so filthy. And fat raindrops were starting to drop from the low grey sky. He hadn’t felt rain since Arkanis - he didn’t remember if it had always stung his skin this way. People were moving faster, covering their heads with hoods or arms, bumping into him carelessly. Maybe this was a mistake - maybe his father was right, he wasn’t strong enough or clever enough to make it in this huge, confusing galaxy. Sloane was wrong about him, wrong to trust him with any kind of responsibility. He felt his fingers bite into the flesh of his palm as he tried to steady himself. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

Armitage whipped round as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

It was a boy, around his own age with a mop of dark, unruly hair and warm brown eyes looking out at him with concern from beneath long lashes.

“Are you lost?”

“No.” Armitage snapped, pulling himself upright and glaring at the other boy. “I’m fine.”  _ Be polite _ , Sloane's voice echoed in his ears. “Thank you.” He added tersely, brushing another drop from his face. The rain on Arkanis certainly hadn’t stung like this.

“You’ve never been here before have you?” The other boy’s lips turned up in an infuriating grin. 

“What is it to you?” Another fat droplet hit him, this time in his eye. He swore as he rubbed frantically to clear away the burning liquid. 

“It’s just - this is acid rain, if you stand out here too long your hair’ll fall out.”

“Acid rain?” Armitage repeated - he had learned about acid rain in his classes, but Grand Admiral Sloane hadn’t told him to expect it here.

“Yeah, you know - rain with acid in it?” An even wider - more infuriating smirk spread across his face.

“I know what acid rain is.” Snapped Armitage. 

“Great, then let's get out of it.” He snatched Armitage’s hand and started pulling him down the road before he could register what was happening. “I know a place.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Armitage resisted his grip. “Let go of me!”

“In a second!” 

The other boy gritted his teeth and pulled Armitage along even harder, through the bustling, crowded street, past-soot streaked buildings and deep puddles of acid mud. He only stopped pulling him and let go of his hand when they reached the cover of a low overhang above the back steps of a warehouse. They must have put several blocks between themselves and the cantina where Sloane was having her meeting. 

“Why would you do that?” Armitage demanded, glaring at the dark haired boy. “I was supposed to wait out there for g-” he stopped himself before his indignation drove him to say something he would regret. “I was supposed to wait.” He edged the comm out of his pocket, making sure he hadn’t missed any messages from Sloane.

“Well wait here - out of the rain. It should pass soon anyway.” He lowered himself to sit easily on the permacrete steps as if he hadn’t a care in the galaxy. His father would have slapped him for sitting in such an ill-mannered way, legs wide and elbows up behind him. “What were you waiting for anyway? Or who?”

“A colleague.” Armitage said simply. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“A colleague?” The other boy repeated, bemused. “What’s your job? What kind of uniform is that?”

Armitage debated stalking off back to the cantina, acid rain be damned, but his scalp and face still burned, and he was in no hurry to risk his hair. Sloane said she would be two hours. If she needed him she would comm him. Better to wait here, infuriating as his companion was. With a resigned sigh, he sat down on the steps, his own stiff posture a stark contrast to the other boy’s care-free lounge.

“You ask a lot of questions,” said Armitage, narrowing his eyes, “hasn’t anyone ever taught you that’s not polite?”

The other boy scoffed. “Stars, what are you, some kind of Core World rich kid? ‘ _ That’s not polite _ .’” He mocked Armitage’s accent.

“If I was rich do you really think I’d be wasting my time on this planet?”

His companion raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Fair enough. I’m Poe, by the way, Poe Dameron.”

“Armitage.” He returned, holding out a hand for Poe to shake.

The other boy returned the handshake with a bemused smirk, as if the gesture was ridiculous to him. “You got a last name, Armitage?”

“Everyone has a last name,” he returned cooly.

“You wanna tell me what it is?”

“Not especially.”

“Wait, wait - can I guess? It’s Hux isn’t it?”

Armitage bristled, fingers tensing to snatch the blaster from his pocket and dispose of the other boy.

“How do you know that?”

Poe made a face - “I mean, it’s printed right there on your jacket.”

Armitage’s cheeks burned so intensely his vision went blurry. “Oh, right.” He mumbled. “Yes. It’s Hux.” 

He deliberately looked away from the other boy, out towards the rain and the road beyond. The bustle of the streets had not thinned out, only quickened its pace. Some passers-by carried umbrellas that glowed with energy shielding. Clearly life here had adapted to the harsh environment. A little acid rain would not get in the way of business.

“So you aren’t from here,” Poe said, “obviously. Where are you from?”

Even if he had wanted to answer truthfully, Armitage wouldn’t have known how. He wasn’t really  _ from  _ anywhere. He might have been born on Arkanis, but there was nothing to tie him to the place but a mother he had never known and the ruins of his father’s academy. He hadn’t even lived on one Star Destroyer long enough to consider it home. He was an exile, belonging nowhere but the vacuum of space.

“Here and there,” he said at last, his tone solemn and final, a glare warning Poe not to press further.

“Fair enough,” said the other boy. “I’m the same way - I mean, I have a home - I’m from Yavin 4 but my dad and I have been on the road a lot lately. I think he doesn’t want to go back - not since we lost my mom.” 

He sounded genuine, but Armitage couldn’t shake the suspicion that he was only sharing so much in order to coax him into lowering his own guard. It wouldn’t work. Armitage Hux knew better than to believe someone would be this seemingly kind and open without some kind of agenda or scheme.

“I’m sorry.” He said, and allowed one crumb out - “I never knew my mother, I imagine it’s much harder to have a mother and then lose her.”

“It is what it is,” said Poe, “my dad says the ones we love never really leave us. They become one with the force - even if they’re not jedi - so they’re out there - energy in the universe, you know?”

“That’s a nice thought.” He fought back the urge to make some quip about Jedi nonsense - feel-good superstition weak minded people used to give order to a random and cruel universe. Better change the subject. “Will your father be looking for you?” 

“Nah,” Poe shrugged, “he’s getting our ship fixed - the mechanic’s an old friend of his from the war - they’ll probably spend all day talking. He’ll be glad I’m out of his hair.”

“The war?” Of course this Poe Dameron would come from rebel stock.

“Yeah, both my parents fought for the alliance. What about yours - er - your dad?”

“He didn’t fight.” Not technically a lie. Brendol Hux had never fired a shot for the Empire - the old coward. “He was a ... teacher.” Also not entirely false.

“Oh, that’s good. The galaxy needs teachers.” 

_ Not like him _ , Hux thought bitterly.  _ If only you knew. _

“So” Poe went on, “who were you waiting for out there?”

“Just a colleague. She shouldn’t be long - two hours. I have to be back by then or she’ll be angry with me.”  _ And she’ll never let me planetside again _ , he thought but didn’t say.

“So what are you anyway?” Poe asked, looking him up and down, “I mean, you’re not a spy - not with your name printed right on your chest, and you’re not New Republic military - I’ve seen their uniforms and that’s not it. So what is it? Escaped prisoner? Boarding school kid?”

“None of your business.” He said cooly.

“Right, right. You’re being mysterious. Good for you.”

A pause, during which neither of them spoke. Armitage watched the street and felt Poe watching him. He’d never met a boy like this before - and these flutterings in his stomach were altogether new to him too. Perhaps it meant he was going to be sick. 

“So…” Poe said “you got a girlfriend back wherever you’re from?”

“What?” Armitage made a sound he had never made before - something between a barked laugh and a snort. “No!” The sound startled him almost as much as Poe’s question.

“Boyfriend?”

“No.” He didn't even have a friend. There simply wasn’t time or space in the First Order for those kinds of relationships.

“Cool, cool. Yeah me neither. Can’t be tied down, you know? Travelling the galaxy keeps me pretty busy. I guess you could say the stars are my boyfriend.”

“Right.” A smirk tugged at the corners of Armitage’s lips. That was maybe the stupidest thing he had ever heard, but for some reason it made him feel warm, rather than disgusted. “Sure.”

The rain had started to let up, the fat drops thinning to a weak drizzle.

“I told you the rain wouldn’t last long.” Poe said, nudging Armitage’s side with his foot. “That would’ve been just long enough to make all that pretty ginger hair fall out.”

Armitage huffed a half laugh.

“So uh … I guess that means you have to go back to your colleague or whatever.” There was a twinge in his voice.

Armitage thought about going back to the cantina - back to the shuttle and back to the ship. Back to his life and his father - to the slaps across his face and the insults muttered behind his back. He felt his heart sinking and dimming like a setting sun. This wasn’t about Poe. He didn’t know the next time he would set foot on a planet again.

He glanced down at his chrono. “I’ve still got an hour.” 

Poe’s face lit up, mouth turning up into the widest smile Armitage had ever seen (not that that was saying much). 

“Great! I mean, that’s cool. I actually know a place that’s pretty nice. Since you’ve never been here before, might be fun to see. I mean, if you want to.” 

“I suppose I could spare the time,” Armitage shrugged, trying to maintain a cold, nonchalant demeanor, “if it isn’t far.”

“It’s not.” Poe practically jumped to his feet and offered Armitage a hand up, which he ignored. “This way.” 

The other boy set a brisk pace down the muddy road, dodging other pedestrians and especially deep puddles. Armitage followed, glancing briefly down at his boots. They were cheap, First Order standard issue, and the acid in the mud was already dulling their shine. His father would be furious at him, and Sloane might be disappointed, but he found, to his surprise that he did not care.

It took no time at all to get to the outskirts of the little town - shop fronts giving way to more and more warehouses and the warehouses giving way to a scrap yard. Poe stopped at the chain-link fence that sealed off the scrap yard from the street and started climbing.

“Come on,” he called down, “this way!”

“Are we supposed to be doing this?” Armitage called after him.

The other boy scoffed as he straddled the top of the fence and dropped down the other side. “Oh definitely not.”

Armitage swallowed. He supposed at this point he was already in violation of a dozen rules of the First Order. Why not one more? He sighed, and hoisted himself up on the fence, scaling it with ease. He had done a hundred drills just like this back in the Order. He lifted his legs over the top and dropped down to join Poe.

“Wow,” the other boy raised his eyebrows in deference. “You’re good.”

“Thank you.” Armitage felt his cheeks flush, but chalked it up to the exertion of climbing. 

Then Poe was off again, making his way past the wreckage of old ships and machinery, dodging a rusted durasteel girder and ducking under the wing of an old A-Wing. This place stunk of oil and mold, the acrid stench of the acid rain lingering on everything, and the air hung still and stale. Armitage covered his mouth and nose and tried to keep up, wondering if he had misjudged the situation - if he was not being lured into a trap - an ambush. His fingers brushed the grip of his blaster. If it came to it, he would be ready. 

Suddenly Poe came to a stop, lingering at the edge of a river - or what Hux thought was a river. He had never seen anything like it - the water swirling with a myriad of metallic colors, furling and unfurling into strange rainbows. Though the logical part of his brain knew this was a fetid, filthy flood of toxic runoff, that voice was rapidly being drowned out by another part of himself - a voice he had never heard before in his life, a voice that told him -

“It’s beautiful,” Armitage breathed. He was shocked even as he said it - shocked his lips even knew how to form the word. He’d certainly never said it outloud before.

“Yeah I mean, it’s pretty nice,” Poe said sheepishly, running a hand through his mess of dark waves. “I guess it’s alright.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“This way,” Poe broke his trance, tugging on his sleeve. 

Armitage followed in awed silence as Poe led him to the decaying husk of an old imperial transport shuttle. One of its wings stuck straight up, the other straight out to one side. It reminded Armitage of a bird he had once seen back on Arkanis that had flown into the window and broken its neck. His father had made him go out and look at it - its eyes dull and wide even in death, it’s legs and wings all uneven - extended at impossible angles.  _ This is what happens to stupid animals _ , _ Armitage, _ his father had said,  _ they die. Nature takes its course and only the strongest and the cleverest survive. _

“Need a hand?” Poe was already up on the horizontal wing, extending an arm to help the other boy up. 

Armitage could have climbed up easily by himself, but some strange new part of his brain - the same one that called the oil slicked river beautiful - urged him to take the proffered hand - not because he needed to, but because he wanted to. He listened to that foolish voice and let himself be helped up, coming to sit beside Poe.

From up here, the river seemed even more strangely beautiful, catching the copper rays of the setting sun as it emerged from behind the acid rain clouds. Armitage closed his eyes as the sun warmed his skin. He had almost forgotten what sun felt like - like the most gentile of warm breaths - the lightest and softest and kindest of caresses - the kind he had never had from another person. Even the stench of the place seemed to fade into the background of this new, wonderful sensation. He breathed deeply, without even noticing the smell.

“Can I tell you something embarrassing?” This was his voice leaving his lips, but his brain certainly wasn’t in control.

“Sure,” the other boy swung his legs back and forth, some of the mud coming loose from his boots and raining to the ground below.

“This is my first time planetside in twelve years,” he said, despite his mind screaming:  _ why are you saying this? What are you doing?  _ “This um … this job, with my colleague, I begged her to let me come, I wanted to see … well I suppose I wanted to see what it would be like.”

“Really?” Poe’s eyebrows shot up to meet his dark hair as his head swiveled to fully stare at Hux. “Twelve years? That’s not embarrassing, Armitage, that’s just … kinda sad.”

It had definitely been a mistake. What was he thinking. Of all the things to be stupid and honest about, why this? And more importantly why did he care that Poe Dameron thought he was sad? What did this boy’s opinion matter to him anyway?

“So what do you think of it? Being on land again?” Poe asked.

“Well aside from the acid rain and the stench and the dirt everywhere,” Armitage looked out at the strange, beautiful, fetid river, “it’s rather nice.”

They lapsed into a gentle, companionable silence, Armitage closing his eyes and tipping his face back again to catch the most of the fading beams of sunlight.

After a long pause, Poe spoke again. This time, his voice was softer. “Can I uh … can I ask you something embarrassing?”

“I suppose so.”

“Can I - would you mind if I kissed you?”

The breath caught in Armitage's throat. He felt his cheeks burning like they never had before. He had never kissed anyone before and the idea of doing it now - of potentially doing it wrong - was mortifying. But it wasn’t as mortifying as it was appealing. He might never get the chance again after all. “I -” he stammered, “I’d like that.”

Poe’s skin, though a good deal more tan than Armitage’s, was flushed just as red. He leaned forward, clearly struggling valiantly against the grin on his face. It was halting, and more awkward than he expected as they inched closer to one another. Poe placed a hot, clumsy hand on Armitage’s chest to steady himself.

“Oh kriff!” He hissed, turning away from Armitage just as their faces were inches apart and rubbing his free hand over his forehead. “Kriff … shit … sorry!”

“You’ve never done this before,” Armitage declared triumphantly, relieved beyond measure that he wasn’t alone in his inexperience.

“What, and you have?” Snapped the other boy.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Great!” Poe declared, his voice no less heated. “Then let’s try again!”

This time he leaned forward quickly, his lips meeting Armitage’s in a flustered rush. His eyes fluttered closed as Poe’s hand clenched around the fabric of his jacket. Armitage leaned into it, sighing as lips parted and his tongue seemed to know just what to do. The kiss seemed to last forever, though realistically it was only a few seconds. They parted as he felt the grin returning to Poe’s lips. 

They were both ginning like idiots, blushing and unsteady.

“Not bad for a first go, huh?” The dark haired boy laughed.

“Not bad at all.” Armitage made a sound he had certainly never made before - he giggled. As soon as the laugh left his lips he clamped his hand over his mouth, mortified.  _ A giggle? He was Armitage Hux, top of his class, destined to lead the First Order to greatness! He didn’t giggle! _

“Sorry,” he managed, “I-”

But just as he started to speak he heard his comm chirp. 

“Oh,” he gasped, “Sloane. I have to go.” 

He slid off the transport wing in such haste he nearly landed face first in the river.

“It was nice um - meeting you,” he said over his shoulder as he hastened back toward the fence. 

“Wait,” Poe called after him, “will I see you again?”

The galaxy was vast and chaotic - the chances of two people meeting and making a connection once were astronomically low - and meeting twice …

“I have no doubt!” He smiled a bittersweet smile back at Poe who was still sitting on the wing of the transport, silhouetted against the setting sun. “We’ll see each other again eventually."


End file.
